Western Massachusetts
Board of Basketball Officials

It is very important that you are aware of the deadlines associated with the various sports seasons. Registration will be open at miaa.arbitersports.comstarting June 15, 2015.

The deadline for FALL sports is July 31, WINTER sports October 1 and SPRING sports January 1.

Please note there is nothing preventing you from registering early, regardless of your season. As an official, you are able to register at any time during the year. The background check procedure is expected to take up to two weeks to complete, and there are time frames built in for appeals. It would be in everyone’s best interest for officials to not wait until the last minute to register.

The annual refresher exam for Active members is available via the Documents section of this site. To complete the exam online, click here. Enter your name, click “continue” and the exam will open. The questions are identical to the paper exam passed out at our rules interpretation clinic. Click Yes or No for each question, and when you are done, click “submit.” You must get a minimum of 43 correct to pass.

The deadline to complete the exam is Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. When you complete it online, scoring is tabulated instantly, with the results immediately communicated to you as well as the board secretary.

As always, the exam is open-book. Please contact Jeff Rivet if you require further assistance.

The Board 31 banquet was held at the Yankee Pedlar Restaurant on March 8. It was a great night and we appreciate Chairman Mike Shirley making all the arrangements. The evening brought to an end the service of Tony Dulude as Secretary/Treasurer and Keith Scarlett as President and the Board extends its thanks to them. The guest speaker for the evening was Gary Mindell, the Head Coach of Commerce basketball.

Registration with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association for the 2018-19 school year is open. While your background checks are good for three years, you must register annually with the MIAA and pay the accompanying $10 fee. All new officials must register with the MIAA and submit to a background check to be eligible to officiate high school games.

It is recommended that winter-sports officials complete this process by Oct. 1 to avoid any delay in your eligibility to officiate this season.

The annual Board 31 banquet was held April 8 at the Yankee Pedlar Inn in Holyoke. Board members hosted our scholarship winners, their parents and coaches; our sportsmanship winner head coaches and captains; and numerous past board presidents.

The evening began with a social hour featuring a free beverage token and a cheese, crackers and fruit platter. Members congratulated scholarship winners Megan Goncalves (Pope Francis High School) and Riley Held (East Longmeadow HS). Sportsmanship winner Longmeadow HS (boys and girls programs) was represented by boys coach Patrick Murphy, a girls assistant coach and several players.

Their efforts resulted in a fun time and $440 for the scholarship fund. Thanks, Odete and assistants!

Following a welcome by president Brian Page and an excellent buffet dinner, chair Chris Brown presented the Sportsmanship Award to the Longmeadow boys and girls coaches, with a short acceptance speech. Chair John Gagnon then presented scholarships to Goncalves — with words of praise and support from her coach and an acceptance speech by Megan — and Held, who also gave an acceptance speech.

Page then presented the Hickson Award for board service to Chuck Elias, and accepted it on Chuck’s behalf.

Past president Dan Burke (’78) then introduced past president Michael Deary (’89), and presented him with the 2016 IAABO Board 31 Life Member Award. Mike entertained the gathering with anecdotes and observations from his many years in coaching and officiating.

It is once again a requirement to complete the concussion course in order to officiate high school games. If you already took the course for a fall sport your registration is good for the entire school year. You must submit your certificate number to Jeff Rivet so that it can be documented and sent to the MIAA for confirmation. A simple email with the confirmation is sufficient. You can also print your copy of the certificate and hand that to Jeff as well.

To take the course log on to http://nfhslearn.com In the courses section choose Concussion in Sports- What you need to know to take the class. You will need to order the course but it is free of charge. Once you have completed the course the registration will appear for you to keep in your records. The course must be completed for you to be eligible to work high school assignments. Please complete this before December 1st so that an accurate list may be submitted to the MIAA.

Below is a complete listing of all rules interpretation clinics across Massachusetts. You must attend one in order to be eligible for high school assignments. Be sure to notify the secretary of the board whose clinic you attend so your attendance is properly credited.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association annually requires all of its officials to complete the NFHS concussion course in order to officiate high school games. If you have already taken the course for a fall sport, your certification is good for the school year. Please send your certificate number to jeffreyjrivet@hotmail.com so it can be documented and sent to the MIAA for confirmation. We recommend you also print a copy of the certificate to keep in your game bag.

Please complete the following process by Nov. 30 so an accurate roster may be submitted to the MIAA.

* Print a copy of the certificate to keep in your game bag.

* You must complete this certification to officiate high school games.

Officials vs. Cancer was started in 2008 and supports the American Cancer Society. All monies that are donated are tracked, processed through the American Cancer Society (ACS) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and then returned to the local ACS offices for the areas from which the donations were made. Since the inception of the program, over $1,000,000.00 has been donated to the American Cancer Society.

So far, nearly 50 members of Board 31 have contributed almost $1,000, but we’re not done yet! Please consider donating to the ACS through our board. Please contact Owen Shanahan (oshanahan58@comcast.net) to make a donation through our board — a $15 donation gets a pink Fox40 whistle. Let’s wear our pink whistles proudly during cancer week – January 25th through January 31st.